Bowling For Life
by FlamboyantlyBiBoy
Summary: Leo gets over stressed while working on a project, and Nico takes him out to get his mind off things. Of course, Nico's hope is that by getting him out of Bunk Nine, Leo could find inspiration. Slash, Valdangelo, kind of a surprise setting with a slight AU. Set after the Giant War.


Nico watched his best friend run his fingers through his hair in frustration. The brown curls stuck up at odd angles, a sweat stain had seeped its way into forming a large spot on the back of Leo's tank top, and the floor surrounding him was littered with tossed pens and pencils. Another clattered to the ground as Leo threw it violently at his blue prints, and put his head in his hands.

"You work yourself too hard." Nico muttered, turning a page in the book he'd "borrowed" from the Athena cabin.

"The Argo II was my legacy." Leo answered, "I don't want my legacy to be something that failed."

"She didn't fail. She made it all the way to Greece."

"Barely."

Nico shrugged, "You're still young. You shouldn't stress yourself over making a new legacy so soon."

"I don't exactly have anything better to do." Leo muttered, picking up another pencil.

The son of Hades checked the time before moving over to Leo, taking the pencil away from him, "Tonight you do. We're going bowling. Get your mind off things. You have no inspiration locked up down here."

Leo was about to protest that he had work to do, but 'no' was never a suitable answer for Nico. 'We're going bowling' also happened to be code for 'serious conversation time' which Nico only used when he could tell something was very wrong. So Leo relented, "One game."

About an hour later found them pulling on the zero-traction shoes at the little bowling alley not far from Camp Half-Blood. Hardly anybody ever went to it, so most of the time whenever a group of demigods needed to get out for a bit it happened to be fairly safe without too many people asking the wrong kinds of questions. It had become a favorite of the best friends since they were restless spirits, always in the need to go somewhere and do something.

They played half a game, manually resetting the pins with each turn, without their conversation getting any deeper than competitive insults. Leo came back to the seats from his turn, but Nico showed no intention of moving from where he was laying across a section of seats. After a minute, he finally voiced his thoughts, "I don't like seeing you like this. Like you're in a competition with yourself, and you don't want either side to win."

Leo stared at him for a few seconds before stating, "I have no clue what that was suppose to mean."

"It just feels like you're still beating yourself up about what happened on the quest, and it wasn't your fault." Nico couldn't look at his friend, staying focused on the twinkling stars above them.

"It was my fault. There's way around that. I fucked up, and they died."

"For the sake of argument, let's say you're right and it's all your fault. Brewing on it isn't going to bring them back which is impossible no matter what. I need you to stay focused so we don't join them. Unless that's what you want to happen."

"Of course I don't want that. You're the only thing left, and they aren't taking that away." The way he said 'they' seemed to echo around the empty room.

Nico sat up, and smiled at Leo, "Then you need to forget the past, and stay focused on the now. We're going to have to move soon, and we need that Defender."

"I don't want to move." Leo sat back, practically pouting at his only companion.

"I don't either, but its only a matter of time before she figures out where we're hiding."

Leo sighed, "I know. The Defender is just being difficult."

"You're letting it be difficult, because you're scared." The son of Hades argued, moving to crouch in front of the older boy, "I get that you're scared of failure, but I have faith in you, that not so deep down you want to protect me. Protect both of us. You know as well as I do what will happened if she finds us."

"Death."

"Worse. True we'll die, but along with us will die the hopes of every enslaved demigod, and she knows that." They just looked into each other's eyes for a minute before Nico got up the nerves to do what he'd been longing to even before they were locked together. He gently pressed his lips to Leo's, and held there for a few seconds before pulling away, "You're not alone, Leo. We're going to take care of each other."

The son of Hephaestus nodded weakly, before a light suddenly went on in his eyes. A light that hadn't been there since that frightful day that ended the life they used to know. Leo had inspiration. In his happiness, he leaned down to kiss Nico once more before quickly kicking the shoes off, "We need to get back. I have an idea."

They walked outside together with their fingers linked, only getting a brief view of the new world before disappeared into the darkness of shadow travel. It wasn't like what Long Island used to be. Now it was dry and barren with sand storms almost every day, and earthquakes having crumbled bits of abandoned buildings.

As soon as they reemerged into Bunker Nine, Leo was at his blue prints again. This time working furiously. Nico smiled, and went to check on their food supplies. When he returned, he hopped onto a stool next to Leo who was staring down at the sheet of paper, "What happened? You didn't lose it, did you?"

"No. I have it here, and it'll work." Leo turned to look at his partner, "You kissed me."

Nico blushed bright red, "I didn't-"

He didn't get to answer before the slightly chapped lips pressed themselves to his once more. Their kiss didn't last long but an understanding passed between them, and Leo held Nico in his arms. Looking over his newly found boyfriend's shoulder, Nico could see the design Leo had finally found for their defender. It looked like a heart...

**Author's Note: **Day five of seven for Valdangelo week. The original request was given for a pre-relationship where Nico helps Leo who's why too stressed, and it turned into this post apocalyptic thing...


End file.
